IMAGINE arriving at your local supermarket to find they had wound the clock back to 1980s prices, meaning that petrol cost just 28p a litre, a loaf of bread 33p and a pint of milk 17p.

In reality every item in our shopping baskets has risen in price over the last four decades, well, almost every item.

A new report has revealed that in many shops a pint of booze costs the same now as it did when Geoffrey Howe was in charge of setting alcohol duty.

Every few years we hear ministers pledge to prevent the sale of drinks at very cheap prices but deep discounting continues to result in litres of lager and cider being sold more cheaply than water in supermarkets.

The rise in alcohol consumption and alcohol-related harm has gone hand-in-hand with increasing affordability. Also, heavy drinkers tend to buy alcohol that is both cheaper and stronger per volume than more moderate drinkers.

Therefore, increasing the price of cheaper or stronger alcohol is likely to reduce the consumption of those individuals most likely to harm themselves and others as a result of their drinking.

There is also growing evidence of so-called pre-loading, with a recent study showing the majority of young people who were arrested for alcohol-related crime and disorder admitted they tanked up with cheap supermarket booze before going out.

There are those who argue that government intervention in pricing is an example of the nanny state at work and that drink-related problems are best tackled by education, awareness and collaboration between the health service, manufacturers, police and retailers. 

Attempts in Scotland to set a minimum price for all drinks on the basis of their alcohol content have faced a legal challenge, but minimum unit pricing would be a step in the right direction if we want to save lives and cut crime.